Burns night boost for haggis and whisky worth billions to UK

Charlotte Henry is a former City A.M. reporter. She is the author of the upcoming book Not Buying It, a look at fake news and how to solve it, to be published by Unbound where you can pledge and buy the book.

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Tartan treats: Haggis and whisky, both consumed on Burns night, boost the economy

More people than ever before will have enjoyed Scottish products like haggis and whisky as they celebrated Burns night yesterday, and the industry is bringing in billions for the UK economy,

Figures released by the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs reveal that the UK has exported £4.85m worth of haggis to a total of 28 different countries, a 51 per cent increase between 2010 and 2013. Ireland, France, Spain and Hong Kong buy the most haggis outside of the United Kingdom.

Additionally, 1.3bn bottles of Scotch whisky were exported in 2013 alone, worth £4.37bn, with a 24 per cent rise in exports of the product overall between 2010 and 2013.

Exports of Scotch whisky are worth £135 a second to the British economy, with exports of Scottish products helping the UK foodchain generate £103bn in 2013.

Environment secretary Elizabeth Truss said: “Robert Burns called haggis the ‘great chieftain o’ the pudding-race’ and it’s wonderful that more than 200 years later, this delicious, wholesome dish is now being appreciated around the world. In a Burns night meal, nothing goes better with haggis than a dram of Scotch whisky, one of our greatest export success stories.”